Men and Boys rise for Gender Justice in Ambedkar University, Delhi- a brief report on CHSJ, ME-D and Mittika’s interaction

Social change and social transformation are issues that people from all arenas- media, students, families, corporate and communities- have to be involved with. The youth of the city forms a large mass that will be instrumental in writing the future of our society. Hence, it is imperative to involve the young students in a discourse that promotes gender justice.

It is through these sustained interventions- capacity building, mentoring and mobilisation in colleges, that MenEngage Delhi hopes to engage men and boys for gender justice through debunking aggressive masculinities especially within the urban settings.As a part of Centre for Health and Social Justice, MenEngage Delhi and Mittika’s collaborated effort to create a cultural resonance across the city’s colleges, an interactive session was organised with Ambedkar University, Delhi. The specially curated forum theater started at 2:00 pm and it brought forward a vivid understanding of masculinities.

The play went on a multi layered narrative to explain how media portray the constructed images of masculinities in popular culture in India through movies, advertisements and daily soaps etc. The play indicated the micro level approach in depicting stereotypes and prejudices about gender that exist within a society.

After the forum theater, there was a question raised by a student that, “During the segment of introducing the Masculinity and Femininity meter, why has Mittika used the colour pink to depict feminity and the colour blue to depict masculinity?” To this Mittika replied that the intention with which these forum theatres are designed is to bring out social stereotypes and put them in front of the audience for deliberation and discussion. Such methodologies allow an opportunity to critique existing patriarchal stereotypes that exist within a society. With this, the session with Ambedkar University was concluded.